kcal??

kilocalorie.

I'm trying to figure out kcals too. I got a drink that was in kcals and all the online converters don't give conversions that make sense.

kcal = calories

kilocalorie.

Also known as a food calorie. The calories listed on food labels are actually kilocalories or Calories. Imagine if your banana was 121,000 calories instead of 121 Calories.

On food packaging kcal and Cal are used interchangeably.

My daughter just did this as a science project. A kilocalorie is 100 times smaller than a calorie. Its called a small calorie, and calories are large calories.

Wrong, a Kilocal is 1,000 times more than a cal.

Yes... just corrected that. I knew it sounded wrong when I posted it.

kcal is really the same thing as calories. you can find kcal written on packages because it's shorter than calories. no conversations needed.

My daughter just did this as a science project. A kilocalorie is 100 times smaller than a calorie. Its called a small calorie, and calories are large calories.

Wrong, a Kilocal is 1,000 times more than a cal.

Echo this! But what everyone knows as a calories is a kcal. A real calorie is so small that it gets multiplied by 1000 to have a capital C or kcal but scientists generally use metric joules instead.

Yup, just like a kilometer is 1000 meters, and a kilogram is 1000 grams, a kilocalorie (or Calorie) is 1000 calories.
A calorie is defined as the amount of energy required to heat 1 gram of water by 1 degree celsius.

On food they always mean kilocalories even if they don't say "kilocalorie" or "kcal" or capitalize the Calorie. The calorie is just too small a unit of measure.

My daughter did this as a science project. It was kind of neat, but a little messy.

yes... 1000calories. I.e one nutritional calorie (food measured in KCals not calories on packaging as calorie such a small unit of energy.... like the joule)

Just to beat a dead horse...

1,000 calories = 1 kcal = 1 Calorie

1 Calorie =/= 1 calorie

Just like most things in this world, the U.S. has their own convention. They name them Calories, instead of the entire rest of the planet, that uses the technically correct term kcals. Since "k" means kilo (1,000), it is correct.

I'll let the rest of you try and figure out why this is so. I have theories, but it's not particularly flattering to Americans.